Pappardelle

Recently, I lent/gave my pasta maker (you don't necessarily need one to make this pasta) to my daughter Grace. She has been making a lot of pasta lately. My friend Melanie dropped off some homemade marinara sauce that she made from some homegrown tomatoes. So I called Grace and ordered some of her pasta to go with this luscious sauce. As per Melanie's instructions, we made vodka sauce by adding ½ cup of vodka to the marinara - simmer until the alcohol is cooked off then add some cream. It was SO delicious! I can't get any fresher than this! 

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Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread

You turn your back on the garden for a day and then find a 5-pound zucchini the size of a baseball bat! I decided to make some zucchini bread, but I wanted something a bit different. I found this Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread. It has great flavor. I love to put it in the toaster.

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Burrito Pie

Here's another socially distant dinner I made in my Instant Pot on my Dad's porch. You can also make this layered  Burrito Pie in the oven. It's everything in a burrito - meat, refried beans and cheese that are stacked up with tomatoes and baked.

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Chicken Wrapped in Bacon with Peaches & Brie

This Chicken Wrapped in Bacon with Peaches & Brie is a great way to use ripe peaches. I have a love-hate feeling about stone fruit. They are on your counter hard as a rock and then they are ripe and go bad very quickly. This recipe works because of the sweetness of the peaches and saltiness of the bacon and then, of course, there is gooey cheese!

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Lemonade Salmon

This Lemonade Salmon is fabulous. It's vibrantly flavorful, tangy and easy to prepare. I even used some of the marinade (not the salmon-soaked marinade!) and steamed some broccoli in it. My husband loved it and I will be making this again.

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Meatloaf Pie

We have been having socially distant dinners on my Dad's porch. I bring my Instant Pot and plug it in outside. The neighbors always come and ask what I'm making! After making Lasagna, which was a huge hit, I wanted to come up with more things I can make in my 6" removable bottom pan. I love the fact that you can easily slice it into pie shaped wedges. You can also make this in the oven with the same pan. The recipe has a topping, but my Dad just likes ketchup on the side. 

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The Enzoni Cocktail

I discovered this refreshing “gateway” Campari drink called the Enzoni cocktail which is a is a cross between a Negroni and a Gin Sour where the Sweet Vermouth comes in the form of muddled green grapes. An ideal drink to introduce a novice to Campari, which is my life’s work! First created by Vincenzo Errico whilst tending bar at Milk & Honey, NYC. Vincenzo was trained by the legendary Dick Bradsell (creator of the Espresso Martini). Red seedless grapes work well for this, too.

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Lemon Roasted Fingerlings and Brussels Sprouts

The key to roasting vegetables together on a sheet pan is to make sure they cook at the same time. These Lemon Roasted Fingerlings and Brussels Sprouts do just that. The vegetables are tossed in a wonderfully, tangy sauce of lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic and honey. I love things that take little effort but have big results.

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Chicken with Jezebel Sauce

Jezebel Sauce has been popular in the south since the 1950s. It is a sweet and spicy sauce. The original recipe used a combination pineapple preserves and peach preserves and also sometimes apple jelly. I just used apricot preserves, but it’s up to you. It also has some horseradish and mustard powder, which gives it a spicy zing.

Jezebel, the evil Phoenician princess in the ninth century BC, has come to be known as an archetype of the wicked woman!

You can serve it over crackers with cream cheese, dipping sauce for coconut shrimp, fried seafood, and eggrolls.

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Utah Fry Sauce

Many years ago, my daughter Zoe and I were travelling and we had a long layover in Salt Lake City. We had lunch and everything seemed to have Utah Fry Sauce. I had never heard of it. It's a mayo ketchup combo. Apparently, it was invented and at Arctic Circle Restaurants, which is a fast-food chain. You can read all about the history of this sauce here. Anyway, I recently bought an air-fryer lid for my Instant Pot and wanted to test it out. So I cut up a potato and made some Utah Fry Sauce. It's really a good sauce. My husband said the fries would have been better deep-fried!

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